I don't load many 16ga round but the Winchester SupX hulls I reloaded the first time were a let down. Split mouths and hard to get a good crimp. I've looked at other brands but don't rally want 200 of another bad type. Thanks.

Look at the side of the box, made in Italy of Australia? If it's Italy shoot them and toss the hulls. Buy the ones made in Australia and reload them. The Australian made Winchesters are in Cheddite hulls- a decent hull.

Or one could go to Ballistic Products web sit and buy either the Cheddite or multi-hull or the Fiocchi new primed hulls and do well.

Thanks, I think I'll try Cheddite hulls, but I didn't want to get some without advice.

Here is a forum that will help with 16ga reloading.

16ga.com

Hope this helps.

Hog Killer

So far I've loaded the Remington black hulls and the Multi-Hulls. A friend has loaded a bunch of the Winchester hulls. I will have to tell him about the Italian vs Australian thing.

The Remingtons with the Italian wads (Gulandi, I think) that Precsion Reloading sells crimped pretty well for me. Maybe one in twenty-five was ugly, but not center hole once I got the press adjusted.

The Multi-Hull with the BP 16 gauge sporting wad had a center hole in the crimp. I kept adjusting the crimper down until I got hull bulging above the brass, but couldn't quite close the hull. BP recommended an overshot card, as the hull may just not be quite full enough for a good crimp without it. The hole's not a big deal. No lead leaks, my Merkel likes the load, and the hulls are great, so I probably won't sweat it.

With the Winchesters, my friend was pretty sure they were Cheddites or Multi-hulls (same base wad, same internal capacity, etc). The brass was getting deformed in his Remington 870, though, since they chamfered the chamber at the transition point from the rim to the chamber (probably for smoother feeding). So he got a chamfer on the brass, which he had trouble resizing with the Winchester but not the Multi-Hull.

Hope this helps.

Steve

A new never fired Cheddite, BPI multi hull or Fiocchi as purchased from Graf & Sons, Prescision or Ballistic products will require a chamfer to be cut on the inside of the plastic, called skivving. The easy way to do this is to get a #2 tap wrench and a cheap American Vermont (or equivalent) 82* 3/4" diameter counter sink. Chuck it up in the tap wrench and dress the hull mouth before crimping like you would a metallic case mouth. If the taper is properly adjusred and you have proper load column height there will be no hole. The easy way to tell if your column height is correct is to charge the hull with powder, wad and shot then look inside and the shot should come to at or just below the fold line of the crimp, if it's much below you need more column height if it's over you need more wad pressure. Case buckling is a sure sign of too little wad pressure and too much crimp taper. No amount of taper will close unskivved hulls with the hole in the center, the plastic simply cannot fold that sharp because of it's thickness. If the load is low a simple and expidient method to raise the column height is a single dry pinto bean dropped into the shotcup before or after the shot. They weigh on average about 5 grains and pulverise upon dropping the hammer on them, no adverse patterning effects, not ejecta mass increase that matters and no pressure spikes with them. For about a buck you get thousands of them at the local grocery. Cheaper, faster and as effective as any over shot/undershot or fiber wad.

Planemech,

Thanks for both tips.

Midway says the Multi-hulls are skived, but I'll try the counterbore trick.

Thanks, again.

Steve

Counter sink not counterbore please! You need that hull length or they'll never close. You can always inspect for the chamfer on the hull mouth.

What is the load anyway? Try more wad pressure before you drop the shot.

Thanks! I never really understood what the skiving was supposed to acomplish. Now it makes sense to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Planemech:
Counter sink not counterbore please! You need that hull length or they'll never close. You can always inspect for the chamfer on the hull mouth.

What is the load anyway? Try more wad pressure before you drop the shot.

Yes, I meant countersink. The load is 21.1gr of Unique, Win 209 primer, the SG16 BP wad, in the BP Muti-Hull.

If I increase wad pressure, won't I push the top of the lead column even further down, so that the center of the crimp is even further depressed in the center, and therefore more open in the center? Don't I want to stick in the pinto bean to raise the lead surface to flatten the crimp? What am I mis-understanding?

Thanks,

Steve

In that load, and I assume you are using 1 ounce of shot, if the crimp is dished in, that is deeper than the thicknes of a nickle and open the load needs more column height, the pinto bean will indeed fix that, also one could switch to a bulkier powder like Herco or my favorite for a 1 ounce 16 Solo 1250, which is of similar burn rate and a single base powder. In that situation I would also try no wad pressure, just set the wad atop the powder and allow any compression to come from the actual crimp- if you are using a MEC, and the hull crushing certainly leads me to believe so insure the taper is backed off and dial it in as you go. If you are using 7/8th's ounce that load is hot as I recall, well to fast for me anyway , and absolutely requires a pinto or a filler wad under the wad. Please keep us posted.

Planemech,

Thanks again. I'd hoped to post with some results, but I've been inconveniently interrupted from shooting and reloading by work.

Still wanted to let you know I appreciate the info before I forget.

Steve

It's OK, I have that problem myself, a whole bunch of loads for my .257 awaiting the right day off to test. Get the time and the weather is lousy for testing.

The 16 will be a joy once you get the loader set up and the load worked out. I ttakes more fiddling with a MEC but in the end it's well worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by Hog Killer:
Here is a forum that will help with 16ga reloading.

16ga.com

Hope this helps.

Hog Killer

Thanks for the link, has alot of good information.

The only hull that I've found my Mec Progressive will load well are the Remington black hulls. They are kind of hard to find and usually higher than most others. I wish the Federal would load better. I have a 1000 of them.

I have shot a 16ga for 50yrs and reloaded for it as well. The cheddite hulls work really great,and i like federal as well. cheddite hulls crimp will start to loosen up a little if you load steel shot,so shoot them within a reasonable time. van